Secrets
by JennSarahlicious
Summary: Kelly just announced she is engaged...how will the cast take the news? More importantly, how will Peter and Melinda take the news?
1. Chapter 1

** We do NOT own Kelly Rowan, Peter Gallagher, David Thomson, or Melinda Clarke. Nor do we own the OC. **

**This isn't real..so don't sue us. **

It was the second day of filming for the 5th season of the OC. Everyone was gathered around Kelly's trailer as she had just announced that she had something to say. Kelly looked extremely nervous, which in turn made Melinda feel extremely nervous, she couldn't imagine what it could be that would make Kelly so scared.

"What do you think it is, Peter?" Melinda looked at Peter trying to get an answer. "What?" he didn't listen to her but kept his eyes on that trailer Kelly lived in. "I mean, what does she want to tell us? I can't imagine what it could be." Melinda said kind of worriedly.

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing, at least nothing to worry about" Peter said, more trying to convince himself than Melinda. He thought he knew Kelly pretty well and didn't know what could be going on, 'Well, might as well just wait and listen instead of worrying about it' Peter thought.

"Nothing?! It must be something because otherwise she wouldn't have announced it." Melinda began biting her nails. She was very nervous and waited for the moment when Kelly finally says something. Kelly and she had been good friends for so long so it kind of scared Melinda that Kelly made a secret of it.

At last, Kelly cleared her voice, surprised that everyone was there; she assumed everyone would be too busy to come and listen to her small unimportant announcement.

"Hey guys, I'm sure you're all wondering what this is about" Kelly said just as Peter and Melinda both nodded vigorously.

"Well, it's not a big deal but...I'm engaged!" she said, a huge smile spreading across her face.

"You're what?? Kelly, Oh...My...God!" Melinda stood there with eyes wide open while Peter just listened to it and said nothing. He just needed a second to digest it. 'What the hell is going on? Kelly is engaged!' he thought.

Melinda walked up and grabbed Kelly's arm and dragged her into the trailer. "Melinda, what the hell are you doing?!" Kelly yelled as her friend dragged her away from everyone. "When the hell did you meet this guy?! I didn't even know you were dating anyone and then I hear you're getting married! Plus I have to hear with everyone else?! I thought we were friends, friends tell friends that they are engaged before anyone else!"

"Melinda, calm down ok?" Kelly said to her friend who was totally out of breath. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but David and I, we wanted to keep it secret... It's not that I don't trust you but getting married is something very personal…"

"You didn't answer my question Kelly...when.did.you.meet.him?" Melinda said very slowly. "Threemonthsago." She said all very fast. "I'm sorry...DID YOU SAY THREE MONTHS AGO!?" Kel! What the hell are you thinking!?" Melinda yelled, unknowingly letting rest of the cast know exactly what they were talking about.

"Melinda, do not talk so loud please! Yes, I said three months ago" she repeated. "What's so wrong with that? I know it's pretty fast but we really love each other so why should we wait?"

"What's his last name...what does he do for a living...has he ever been married...please tell me you at least know this stuff." Melinda said, calming down but still angry. "His last name is Thomson and for a job he owns a couple of media corporations...and he's been married two times before. Honestly Mindy, do you think I am that stupid to marry someone I don't even know?!" Kelly said, a sad and disappointed look on her face.

"Well, Kelly I've been married for years now and you've never been married before so make sure that you know him perfectly." Melinda took her hands while looking into her blue eyes. "Kel, in my opinion you made your decision a bit early."

"I think I made my decision just fine, I am in love with him and I am going to marry him no matter what you think." Kelly said yanking her hands out of Melinda's and crossing her arms ignoring the hurt look on Melinda's face. "Come on Kel, I don't want to fight about this, I'm sorry." Melinda said. "Well then maybe you shouldn't question my judgment." she said before storming out of the trailer.

The cast members - except Peter - already walked away because they didn't want to stand for so long in front of the trailer. When Melinda saw Peter still standing there she decided to stay in that trailer for awhile so that Kelly and he could talk in private.

Just as Kelly was about to walk past Peter he grabbed her arms to stop her. "Hey...hey stop! Kelly, what's goin on? We could hear you guys fighting out here, don't be mad at her, she just cares about you...we all do." Peter said, begging her with his eyes not to get angry at him too.

"Peter, don't you patronize me too! I'm NOT a child anymore! I know what's right and what's wrong." Kelly looked at him angrily. "Now please let me go!"

"No! I will not let you go because you are acting like a spoiled child! We all care about you and we are all worried, you haven't known this guy a long time and that does worry us...you have NO right to bite off our heads just because we care. Not all guys out there are great and they are just looking for someone like you to take advantage of and neither of us wants that to happen to you so stop throwing tantrums!"

"Don't you act like Sandy Cohen who has to look after Kirsten, ok? I'm NOT Kirsten! I live MY life and don't you tell me what to do with it. David is a great man, otherwise we wouldn't be getting married. The only one who doesn't know him is you. YOU don't know him!"

"Then maybe I should get to know him...maybe we all should. Let's have dinner, me and my wife, you and David and Melinda and her husband, you say we don't know him, and your right. So I'm fixing that. Tomorrow 8'o clock my house." and with that he walked away, leaving a shocked Kelly in his wake.

"Peter? Wait, please!", she ran behind him. She realized what she said to him and now she knew it wasn't right to yell at him like that. "I'm sorry!"

"And what exactly are you sorry for? Your still coming to dinner tomorrow night, you're not getting out of that one." He said with a chuckle. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, and Mindy, it's just that I was terrified that everyone would react badly and then they did. And I understand that you all care about me, but I'm an adult and I can make my own decisions and I can clean up my own messes if I have to."

"I know, Kel and I respect that. I'm also sorry for patronizing you..." he grinned "But if you ever need help, you know I'm right here." He said spreading out his arms.

Kelly started to laugh. "Thank you...I'll be sure to remember that, and David and I will both be at your house at 8 tomorrow, now if you don't mind I think I should find Mindy and apologize to her as well." Kelly said smiling as she walked away. 'God I love that smile' Peter thought. 'I don't know how I'll make it throughout dinner with out killing this David'

"What if I mind you walking away from me like that?" Peter said grinning while biting his lip and starring at her butt.

Kelly just looked over her shoulder at Peter and rolled her eyes while smiling. They always had that type of thing going on, he would say something that she would normally interpret as flirty but she knew that would never happen, he was married after all and she was just the women who played his wife.

Kelly couldn't help but laugh at his antics; he could always make her laugh. As she neared her trailer where she knew Melinda was still in, she started to get nervous again. What if she didn't forgive her? She shook the though away. They had been friends for five years; one fight wouldn't take all that away. When she entered the trailer the first thing she saw was Melinda on the couch, crying her eyes out.

"Oh god, Mindy what's wrong?" Kelly said sympathetically, then sat down next to her and put an arm around her. "Don't cry! It was all my fault."

"I-I shouldn't have yelled at you! I'm so sorry, it's not like I'm the one getting married, and it was all just a shock you know?" Melinda said still crying. "Oh I know, I shouldn't have gotten angry like I did...I talked to Peter and he made me realize I was acting like a spoiled child, I shouldn't have expected everyone to react perfectly. It's only natural that you'd be curious about him." Kelly said

"Ok so you aren't angry at me?" Melinda looked at her like a little child. "Because I didn't mean to ruin everything...I mean I'm happy for you now that you're getting married but ever since I don't know your fiancé yet, it makes me a bit scared for you, you know?"

"Yea I understand, and of course I'm not mad at you, I could never stay mad at you." Kelly said with a smile while tightening her grip on Melinda's shoulders. "And...Peter had a great idea since he wanted to meet him as well he invited David and I as well as you and your husband to dinner at his house tomorrow night. That way all of you can get to know him."

"Sounds great" Melinda smiled. "I'll be there". She wiped away her tears. She was happy that everything was cleared now ever since she hated fighting with Kelly. On the one hand she still couldn't help but think about why Kelly didn't tell her about her engagement but on the other hand she didn't want to ask her now because she was afraid that Kelly might understand it as wrong.

As Kelly packed up her bags and left Melinda saw that Peter was still nearby and decided to go talk to him. "Hey Peter, Kelly came by and apologized, she's not so angry anymore." Melinda said. "Yea I was hoping she would, how are you, are you okay?"

"Well, I'm as well as can be expected under the circumstances... but the thing with Kelly makes me still... scared you know?" Melinda looked around and checked whether Kelly had left. "You know" she whispered "I kinda don't trust that guy she's getting married to..."

"Well, its like I told Kelly, yea I don't trust me either, but I also don't know him. Who knows...maybe he's prince charming and we are over reacting." Peter said lifting his hands in defeat. "Yea or he could be the dragon that Prince charming is supposed to kill." Melinda said raising her eyebrows.

"I guess, we will have to wait till tomorrow evening, then we're gonna see him 'live'. I can tell, I'm gonna check him out!" Peter told Mindy. "Don't you think it was a bit early getting engaged after 3 months? I think it was and I also told Kelly." Melinda said, waiting for Peter's opinion.

Well there really is no use worrying about it now...we won't find out anything until tomarrow." Peter said as he started to walk towards his car. "Peter...what do you we if he really is a bad guy? I mean you saw how she reacted today, she won't act any better if we bring it up again." Melinda said nervously twisting her wedding rings.

"Well, everyone can express an opinion... but if he really is that bad, I think we HAVE to tell her no matter whether she freaks out again or not because she won't be getting married to a guy who treats her worse. I won't allow it to happen!" Peter said convincingly.


	2. Chapter 2

When the night of the dinner came, everyone was nervous, especially Peter because he was afraid he'd end up killing the guy. He kept moving around everything, and whenever anyone asked why he was doing this he just said it was because he wanted it to look nice for his castmates but in reality he wanted Kelly to be impressed by his house.

Melinda was also a bit afraid but nervous too because she didn't know Kelly's fiancé yet. What if he is really bad? Should she tell Kelly? On the one hand she kept asking herself questions like these and on the other hand she couldn't wait for the dinner at Peter's house.

Kelly was nervous of what her friends thought of David. They had to like him, after all there was nothing wrong with him. But still she was scared they'd still judge her for marrying him. She'd never admit to anyone how much Peters opinion meant to her.

Both Melinda and Kelly with their partners made tracks to Peter's house now since it was almost 8 pm. Peter finished off his last preparations before his doorbell ringed.

"Hey guys!" Peter said as he greeted Melinda, her husband Steve, Kelly, and David. He wanted to stand there a bit longer and look at what kind of guy David was, but he couldn't just leave them standing on the porch so he figured he would figure him out later. Right now he decided to focus on how beautiful Kelly looked in her red Versace dress.

Melinda, Steve and David already walked in and were welcomed by Peter's wife. The only one still standing on the porch was Kelly. "Hey... Peter" she said smiling and her heart beated faster.

"Wow, Kelly...you look beautiful" was all Peter could say. Kelly blushed and said a quite thank you before walking inside. Peter soon followed and started having a conversation with Steve, while David, Melinda and Kelly talked.

"So you're my fiancée's colleague..." David stared at Melinda for a while. "Well, nice to meet you" he said a bit cold and then gave her his hand.

"Um...yes…yes I am" Melinda faltured as she offered her hand back. She couldn't believe he was so cold..she definitely didn't expect Kelly with someone like this. "And you must be David, it's so nice to finally meet you" Melinda said, trying to be nice, even though she just wanted to glare at the man.

"Yes.. obviously I am David or is there another David around?!" he smiled and Melinda immediately knew that his smile was fake. David looked around in Peter's house and he scrutinized everything closely.

"This is a...nice house...it's...cozy." David said with a smug look on his face that Melinda just wanted to slap off. Melinda also couldn't believe Kelly was letting him talk to her about about Peter this way, her liking for the man as going farther down by the second. As Peters wife came out and announced dinner was ready David just grabbed Kelly's arm and led her out without so much as a goodbye from either of them.

Melinda was under the impression that David was no way a nice guy. Her assumption was proved true: David was just a stuck-up and rich man... She had the suspicion that he might take advantage of Kelly. No, it wasn't just a suspicion, it had to be taking advantage of. She saw it the way he walked away with her.

He led her to the table like a owner leading his dog with him. She wanted to tell Kelly but she knew there was no way she'd take it well. So maybe she'd talk to Peter and Steve later. All while Melinda, David and Kelly were chatting, Steve and Peter were talking about David as well.

David didn't feel comfortable. He knew they all were talking about him. "Honey...I..." he looked at the faces. "I don't feel comfortable here." He whispered.

"Why not?" she asked innocently, She didn't see her friends judging her and David since they walked in the door. " I just don't feel comfortable here anymore and I think we should go home." David said, already walking past her and out the door without so much as a goodbye to anyone. Kelly didn't have much of a choice but to leave as well so she said a quick goodbye as she past everyone.

"Kelly wait!" Peter shouted. "Excuse me" he said to Melinda, Steve and his wife. Then he stood up and ran behind Kelly. "Where are you going? We've just started eating dinner... you can't walk away now."

"David wants to leave..I have to go...I'm sorry about dinner, I really am." and with one last sad look behind her she walked out the door. And as Peter heard the car drive away his opinion, and everyone elses for that matter, was cemented in stone. This guy was a class A asshole.

Everyone started talking about David's behaviour. "Oh man, that dude is really an ass!" Steve said and Paula, Peter's wife, nodded. Peter now knew that it would have been totally ok to kill this guy since he treated Kelly like dirt.

Melinda couldn't believe her best friend just let him control her like that. "Peter...what are we going to do?" Melinda said with a sad look on her face. "I don't know, but didn't you say he's been married two times before?" Peter said. Melinda just nodded. "Well, if this guy is as rich and snobbish as he looks than there should be some information on him..I say we look some stuff up about him and confront Kelly about it."

"You two really want to interfere like that?!" Paula asked. "Yea, honey, we have to do so because Kelly won't notice herself cos love is blind." He turned to Melinda again "So what about looking up something about him on the internet?"

Melinda just nodded and went off to one of Peter's studies to go online. Peter turned to his wife who was giving him a strange look. "Honey, you saw how that guy acted in front of us, just imagine what he may be like when no one else is around." Peter said begging his wife to understand. "Peter! I can not believe you just insinuated that! You know no matter what Kelly would never ever let a man treat her like that." Paula said raising her voice.

"I know Kelly better than you do! She would let a man treat her like that if she's really in love with him. Just believe me!" Peter said raising his voice too. Paula stared toneless at her husband. Peter never thought that his wife and him would pick a quarrel because of Kelly but Kelly meant so much to him, his wife didn't know.

Just as Paula was about to say something else Melinda walked in with a very upset look on her face. Steve, who had stayed silent through Peter and Paula's fight went over to his wife immediatily to see what was wrong. "Sweetie what's wrong?" Steve said hugging his wife. "I read some stuff on how he treated his second wife, it didn't say much about the first but alot about the second. He treated her so bad she had to be hospitalized. He also served her with divorce papers three hours after she gave birth to their son." Melinda said looking down to the floor, she was too shocked to say anything else.

"Oh..My..God" was all Peter could say. He was boiling with rage. "I have to warn Kelly!" he said. He grabbed his car keys. "What do you have in mind?" Melinda asked. "I..I have to go!" Peter just said, then stood up and went to his car.

"Peter wait!" Melinda yelled and grabbed Peter's arm. "She's never going to listen to you right now, plus, she's with David and he'll just somehow discredit you. Let's wait and try to think rationally because i know your not right now." Melinda said still holding tight on his arm. Peter sighed and hung his head low, he knew he wasn't thinking straight but just the thought of the same thing happen happening to Kelly made him boil with anger.

"But.. what if he hits her? What if he hurts Kelly??" Peter said softly. Paula gazed at him very evil. "You just have Kelly in mind, Peter! Kelly here and Kelly there!" Paula said raising her voice and then walked away. Peter didn't follow her but went to his PC again to search for more information.

Melinda knew Peter had a major crush on Kelly, and it was especially obvious after his mini-freak out tonight. "Peter..go apologize to Paula, I know you care about Kelly but there is nothing else to find on the computer and your wife should come first." Melinda said softly.

"Well, it's just that... you know, Kelly and me, I really care about her." Peter said pensive. "But you're right I think I should go apologize." Peter went upstairs to see where his wife was. "Paula? Where are you?" Then he saw her sitting on their bed.

"I understand that you care about her, you've known her for five years, but I'm your wife, and I also understand you want to protect her from this guy, if he is trouble..and believe me if he really does do something, I will fully support you wanting to help her. But obsessing over it right now isn't good for any of us." Paula said looking Peter in the eye, her eyes full of emotion.

"I know honey." He took her hand, then looked her in the eye again. "I'm sorry for what happened." He didn't say anything for a minute. "But it's great that you'd support me." He smiled at her.

She smiled back. "I swear to you, if anything happens that suggests she is being mistreated in any sort of way I give you full premission to obsess. But until then just support her decision."

"Thank you sweetie, you don't know how much that means to me. This kinda makes me realize I've been taking our marriage for granted...I could have easily ended up with a total bitch!" Peter said with a smile and walked out of the room.

He went to Melinda and Steve again. "Did you apologize?" Melinda asked. "Yea I did." Peter said smiling. "Okay then." Melinda still searched for some more information when Peter was with Paula but she didn't find anything new. "I guess we should wait till we see David and her again to see whether he mistreats her in any way or not. If he does so, we'll come up with what we've found out, okay?"

"Okay, we'll just keep an extra eye on her the next couple weeks at work, but don't let her know, because most likely she won't like it at all judging on how she reacted yesterday." Peter said. The three chatted for awhile on random things, like work and their kids until Melinda and Steve announced they had to go relieve their babysitter and left.


End file.
